


Fight It

by historyofamanda



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Internal Conflict, Romance, Shakarian - Freeform, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2016-07-17
Packaged: 2018-07-24 12:58:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7509172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/historyofamanda/pseuds/historyofamanda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shepard and Garrus fight an internal battle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fight It

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by Tumblr user commander-hot-pants' amazing render (see below) as well as a prompt from her! I'm such a big fan of her work. She was absolutely wonderful to work with and I hope I get to work with her again!

Render made by [commander-hot-pants](https://tmblr.co/mQ1DuXEgwS5KBBBhf_oPDyA)

* * *

It was very late and the Normandy was quiet, except for the constant hum of the engines.

Garrus had a bad habit of staying up far later than the rest of the crew. He enjoyed the peace and relative quiet of the SR-1′s lower deck at night. Ashley and Wrex were typically noisy during the day, Wrex constantly upgrading his weapons and Ashley writing mission logs on her computer, thinking out loud most of the time. Garrus was so close to being done calibrating this assault rifle, but truthfully, he was taking longer than he needed to. The alone time kept his mind off of-

 _Shit,_ Garrus thought.

Shepard exited out of the elevator and their eyes met, both of their expressions a mix of excitement and exasperation.

“Oh, hey Garrus.” Shepard said slightly awkwardly, scratching the back of her neck. “I didn’t think you’d still be down here. I came by to put that new scope on my assault rifle. I um, figured you’d be done with it by now.” Her eyes darted between the floor and Garrus’ eyes.

“Hey Shepard. Yeah, sorry about that.” Garrus looked over at the gun, grateful for the visual distraction. “I’m just about finished. Took me a little longer than I expected. You really put this thing through the ringer, heh.” Garrus laughed nervously, angry at himself for his uncharacteristic choice of words.

Shepard feigned a small laugh in response.  
“Ha, yeah. I guess I did.” 

Shepard smiled. The sight of it caused Garrus to inhale a little too quickly and he began to cough. He cleared his throat, deeply embarrassed that he was unable to keep his composure around her for longer than a few seconds.

“Should I come back later?” Shepard asked, despite her eyes begging for the opposite.

“No!” Garrus said a little too quickly and a little too loudly. He ordered himself internally to keep it together.

“No, no.” He said, more softly this time. “I’m almost done anyway. You can go ahead and grab your scope, I’ll just be another minute.”

Shepard walked over to her locker and began turning the lock.

Garrus dared to glance at her while her back was turned. His thoughts screamed at him like sirens.

_Damn it, she’s so beautiful. Damn it, damn it, damn it! It’s not supposed to be this way. She’s the last person I’m supposed to be attracted to. The war hero Shepard? My commander? A human? Just try to think about something else, anything else. Finish calibrating the damn gun, Vakarian._

His attempts to keep his eyes off of her failed miserably. His gaze moved slowly from the curves of her thighs to the small of her back. 

He had only known her a few months, but she was like no one he had ever met before. She was truly a force of nature, a storm in human form. She was cunning, fearless, even ruthless at times. Before her, his life was a sea of seemingly endless paperwork in an overcrowded office and days spent cleaning up C-Sec’s messes. She lit a fire in him that he had been missing for so long, and he couldn’t deny that for much longer.

Shepard turned around to face Garrus once more, scope in hand. She held it much tighter than was necessary in an attempt to find some way to let her stress out.

 _You barely know him,_ she thought.  _Come on Shepard, you’ve never been impulsive about anything. Think this through. An ex C-sec turian with a bone to pick with all authority? Someone you know almost nothing about?_

Shepard looked over Garrus’ large frame and for another quick instance their eyes met again. Her heart rate skyrocketed. She couldn’t deny what happened to her every time she saw him, the fiery images that immediately filled her mind.

 _It’s true, I don’t really know him. But God, do I want to._

They both knew exactly what was happening, but fought against it as much as they possibly could. Their connection was electric and it could almost be felt in the air. The only thing stopping them was their own indecision, their own fears, their own frustrations.

“Alright, all done. Want me to put that scope on there for you?“

Shepard smiled and shrugged.

"I was planning on doing it myself, but sure, since you’re here I guess. Thanks. You’ve always been much better with your hands on me.”

Shepard’s expression turned to one of horror as she realized what she had just said.

“Better with your hands THAN me. Than….me. Is what I meant to say.”

Shepard buried her face in her hands and she began to laugh, letting the last few minutes of almost unbearable tension escape through her laughter.

Garrus didn’t laugh with her. Instead, when Shepard moved her hands from her face and opened her eyes, she saw Garrus standing only inches from her.

“You’ve got to stop doing that.”

Shepard’s heart sunk and her stomach dropped. Her thoughts raced. What had she done wrong? She knew she should’ve just kept her mouth shut. She gripped tighter onto the scope she still held in her hand.

“Doing what?” She said, choking her emotions back.

“Saying things that make me want to kiss you.”

Before she could protest his words, he pressed his lips to hers and a sigh of relief escaped them both.

“Garrus, we shouldn-”

Garrus pressed his finger to her lips and looked into her eyes with breathtaking intensity.

“I know that, you know that. But it doesn’t matter. We both want this and we can’t stand it anymore. Look at us. Now kiss me, Commander.”

Their lips pressed together once more and despite every attempt to fight what they felt, they knew this was one fight they were never going to win.  



End file.
